Ning, the star-studded yet struggling social-networking company co-founded and bankrolled by Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen, is back with a vengeance.
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[Tuesday], it unfurled a new mobile application that it paired with an encouraging progress report on the radical business plan it instituted several months ago to reverse its flagging fortunes.
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Mogwee, a free new mobile app from Ning, combines social-communication services: one-on-one and group chat; photo sharing; access to information about restaurants, movies, YouTube and games; and the ability to send virtual gifts, such as zombie sheep.
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It is initially available on iPhones, iPads, and Android-supported devices and phones with mobile Web access. A BlackBerry version is in the works and expected soon.
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Mogwee will soon be integrated with Facebook and Twitter, according to Ning.
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The mobile market is fertile, Andreessen says, pointing to the breakneck growth of smartphones. An estimated 4.5 billion smartphones are already in use worldwide.
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The mobile app is another building block in the rebuilding of Ning, which fell on hard times last year after the departure of charismatic co-founder Gina Bianchini amid slumping business.
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It’s been a transformative year, says Ning CEO Jason Rosenthal, who in April 2010 was forced to slash 40% of its 167-person staff and drop its free, ad-supported services.
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Since then, the Silicon Valley company’s shift to premium networks appears to have paid off. About 90,000 Web sites pay Ning to add a social-media sheen to their online properties. Last July, it was 17,000 sites.
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Ning networks are used by about 60 million people a month, the company says.
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Many of the new customers — ranging from musicians such as Linkin Park and 50 Cent, to politicians and non-profits — are paying for Ning tools to redesign their sites and add social-media elements such as real-time feedback, profile pages and videos.
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It’s about bringing 127 million old-world Web sites into the…